St. Petersburg goes from pole to IndyCar season finale

(Reuters) - The IndyCar season-opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida which was postponed due to the novel coronavirus outbreak will now be the series finale, CEO Mark Miles said on Wednesday.

Traditionally the first event on the IndyCar calendar, the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg had originally been set to run on March 15 until the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered North American sport.

The outbreak forced an overhaul of the IndyCar schedule which will now start on June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway and end on Oct. 25 in St. Petersburg.

It will mark the 16th consecutive year IndyCar has run a race on the streets of St. Petersburg.

"The streets of St. Petersburg will make for a fitting and action-packed finale in a venue and city that our entire IndyCar community holds dear," Miles, the Penske Entertainment Corp. President and CEO, said in a statement.

"It's going to be a fantastic weekend of IndyCar, and I know our drivers will have race day in St. Pete circled on their calendars."

In between those two events, IndyCar is still planning to run 13 other races highlighted by the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Aug. 23.